Mobile By Matthew Humphries Apr. 14, 2014 11:10 am
Paying for stuff typically involves getting a credit or debit card out of your wallet, inserting it into a machine, waiting for a prompt, entering a 4-digit code, and then putting the card away again., It’s a task that can take a couple of minutes and is therefore way too slow for us. NFC aims to speed things up by allowing you to just wave a device over a machine. But there’s still a lack of NFC-enabled devices on the market and it still requires a device be present.
Quixter, created by engineering student Fredrik Leifland at Lund University, aims to fix the payment issue by removing the need for a card or device completely. Instead it uses your palm and a phone number.
Quixter works by integrating a biometric scanner into the payment device. Then, once signed up, the user can pay simply by allowing their palm to be scanned for a couple of seconds and then entering the last four digits of their phone number. It’s secure because every vein pattern in a hand is unique. It’s also very convenient as you aren’t fumbling in your pocket for the thing that allows you to pay.
My one issue with this system is it still requires you to touch something. The best payment systems, as NFC has demonstrated, function without needing to touch a surface. This palm scanner doesn’t allow that yet, but it may do in the future. And it is a desirable system due to the security it includes by default. You can’t steal someone’s hand without cutting it off or forcing them to have it scanned, two things that would really stand out when paying for something in public.
Quixter is only working as a system at Lund University right now with 1,600 users. For it to become a standard form of payment it needs some big investor to take an interest or one of the existing payment companies out there to pick up the tech. It may happen, but for now NFC looks like the safer bet.
More...
Quixter, created by engineering student Fredrik Leifland at Lund University, aims to fix the payment issue by removing the need for a card or device completely. Instead it uses your palm and a phone number.
Quixter works by integrating a biometric scanner into the payment device. Then, once signed up, the user can pay simply by allowing their palm to be scanned for a couple of seconds and then entering the last four digits of their phone number. It’s secure because every vein pattern in a hand is unique. It’s also very convenient as you aren’t fumbling in your pocket for the thing that allows you to pay.
My one issue with this system is it still requires you to touch something. The best payment systems, as NFC has demonstrated, function without needing to touch a surface. This palm scanner doesn’t allow that yet, but it may do in the future. And it is a desirable system due to the security it includes by default. You can’t steal someone’s hand without cutting it off or forcing them to have it scanned, two things that would really stand out when paying for something in public.
Quixter is only working as a system at Lund University right now with 1,600 users. For it to become a standard form of payment it needs some big investor to take an interest or one of the existing payment companies out there to pick up the tech. It may happen, but for now NFC looks like the safer bet.
More...
